The use of heat shields in the aircraft disc brake environment is known in the art as evidenced by U.S. Pats. Nos. 3,051,528; 3,829,162; and 3,958,833. Furthermore, application Ser. No. 673,232, filed Apr. 2, 1976, and assigned to the assignee of the present application, discloses a dual layer heat shield which is received between adjacent rotor disc drive key members.
Due to the lighter, more highly stressed aircraft wheels, heat shields are absolutely necessary to protect the wheel rim from the heat produced during brake application. Under certain operating conditions such as an aborted or rejected take-off, a total braking effort is exercised resulting in an extreme heated condition of the frictionally engaged rotor and stator discs of the brake as well as the remaining brake structure in the immediate vicinity of the rotor and stator discs. The heat load imposed on the brake causes material therein such as the metallic base friction lining or pads to become semi-molten. The semi-molten material as well as other heated brake debris is thrown radially outwardly against the heat shield by the rotor discs. If the heat shields contact the tire supporting rim portion, the heat transferred to the rim may produce localized highly stressed areas thereof and thereby cause subsequent structural failure of the wheel or tire which, for obvious reasons, has disastrous results on the aircraft supported thereby.